Other than a trip which might get the odd mention I will detail projects I am working on, what I want to be working on and what I have otherwise to report on.
I will update the individual projects as they advance.
As asked I have started to catalogue the references I have follow the link on the left where you can obtain them too. Want to email me wander over to qrz.com and you'll find my email address there. Also twitter @m1kta_qrp

Hello Dominic Baines,
Just a reminder that you submitted a request for a Logbook of the World (LoTW) callsign certificate 30 days ago (on 2016-12-07) for the callsign E51KTA. We have not received the documentation required for us to be able to complete your request. See: .
If you still wish to receive a Logbook of the World callsign certificate for E51KTA, please submit:
I) a copy of the Amateur Radio operating authorization (license document) for E51KTA;
AND
II) a copy of one other government-issued document indicating your identity, such as a driver's license or the first page of a passport.
This documentation must be sent by postal mail to:
LoTW Administrator
ARRL
225 Main Street
Newington, CT 06111
USA
E-mail cannot be accepted. The envelope must be postmarked from your location.
The identity-confirming documents that you submit will be destroyed after your LoTW callsign certificate is issued.
73,
The Logbook Team

... so you sign a certificate request with your proper call sign and they still ask for this stuff to be posted to them !

I just love arm chair DXers that never go to some of the places some of us mad ops do... but to explain a bit I hope.

The day after just before coming home. WX was a bit nicer now.

The plan was to be qrv on 17th, it ended up being 18th... murphy delayed qrv by 24 hrs in the end WX (terrible condx)
and I wrecked my right calf on the beach the previous day pushing
the RV out of the sand so I couldn't walk more that 50 yrds
initially so the delay was not a huge problem. Sea was so rough
they cancelled all sailings that day and even the day I was leaving too... click on the image and look at the scribbled message bottom right!

and only way on and off the island was a £££ flight and luggage was 7kg total!

Cost per qso lets not go there shall we :-)

I was qrp or
as good as anyway with bare KX3 (pa caused way too much interference) and only buddipole antenna meant
working anything long distance would have been hard work but I put
couple F in the log (polar path).

Bigger antennas would have been
wrecked rapidly as the wx was constant above 80kmh and gusting
140kmh I had to go qrt as the worst hit at 1am local time until
5am as the wind was way too strong even if guyed ... it's not
called the roaring 40's for nothing. I did take a dipole but the
trees whipped it about so much that was shredded in seconds after
going up.

This was the day after in a sheltered location.

I discussed condx in the days immediately after with locals and seems that day I fell into a propagation
black hole, shame as would have been fun but I did manage into EU
which qrp isn't bad going.

But I did activate OC-203 !

Was probably frustrating for those that wanted it but the island
can be reached by flights very easily. I am sure I might have
another go along with some other spots further from the mainland
and a ZL9 call.

Interesting... and advise for others going to odd/rare IOTA if you activate an IOTA you need to make sure you keep more than just the logs.... so make sure you capture a lot of info about the trip. You might get a note like this... hope I can find all the info so the program classifies the QSO as 'valid' but I suspect I have everything they need :-)

The operating location was just below the white building in the picture.

Dear Dominic,

IOTA Management has become aware you activated an IOTA group (OC-203) that is defined in the IOTA
Directory as DIFFICULT. Your activation was
welcome news to IOTA chasers around the world. You may or may not know that
there are specific requirements for activation of a DIFFICULT IOTA operation before it is accepted as valid.

To meet these requirements smoothly, we have provided a questionnaire
below. Please answer the questions as completely as possible.

If you have any questions, please contact us. We can help you understand
the requirements.

In addition to the above, there is one more requirement we would like to
mention. On your QSL cards please print the name of your island as it appears
in the list of qualifying islands on the IOTA website at https://www.rsgbiota.org/info/directory.php.

IOTA management appreciated your effort to activate this interesting
IOTA. We hope you had a safe return from OC-203.

Thank
you and good IOTA hunting!

73,

Bob,
K3EST

IOTA
Validation Team

Brief Questionnaire for activation of OC-203

(a) The date and time of
the first QSO:

ME - That is in the logs.

(b) The date and time of
the last QSO:

ME- That is in the logs.

(c) Total number of QSOs:

ME- That is in the logs.

(d) Call sign used: ZL/M1KTA

Fine

(e) Full
name(s) and personal call signs on the operators:

Dominic Baines M1KTA

(f) Bands and modes of
operation employed:

cw

(g) Type of
equipment used (rigs, amplifiers, antennas):

KX3, Buddipole. Yes NO PA... the small one createdinterference so did not use it.

(h) Name of the
island and IOTA group: STEWARD OC-203

ME- Fine

(i) Is the island already
approved for the respective IOTA group: YES

(j) Rarity of the
IOTA group in terms of percentage of membership which has it confirmed: 30.5

(k) URL of the expedition
if available:

?? Hardly an expedition but sure was followed on blog, twitter and qrz :-)

(l) Does the access to
the island require a permit? If yes, please attach a copy of the permit:

no, scheduled flight to it.

(m) Does the operation
from the island require an authorization? If yes, please attach a copy of the
authorization:

no was CEPT operation. But I asked the property owner for permission to operate.... was polite thing to do anyway.

(n)
Please provide us withevidence
of your presence on the above island, such asphotos
taken during your operation (preferably including identifying signs/plaques
and/or landmarks),signed
statements from someone in authority confirming your presence or, in the case
of a boat charter, arrival and departure times and tickets:

ME - These will all appear in time but pretty sure got all this.

(o)IOTA chasers can now obtain electronic credit viaClub Log.If you upload to Club Log,
please use the same call as used during the operation.

Did you upload the log to Club Log
(yes or no)?

ME - Not yet! Please be patient! Already been hassled for qso confirmations by at least 4 ops before even got home!

Nothing in log at all after 3 hours... cycling through 15/17 and 20m will try 30m and 40m near local sunset. Knew conditions had been bad but this is really painful. Knew trying to contact EU/UK would be hard but... not this bad.

Sorted a small PA but caused interference so updated KX3 software and pushing 15W instead. Not hearing anyone on the bands, and yes have tried moving and using other antennas.

WX gone from crap to nice and sunny to gone over cast again. Had 180kmh winds other day (that is > 100mph!).

Tuesday, 17 January 2017

Lots have asked so for all.... see what rbn says then listen on freq listed. I expect will be working split listening up. Suspect the bands will be pretty rubbish during the day, maybe 17m & 15m in afternoon (local) an hour before sunset 40m should be busy, 30m a couple of hours before too. I expect to hear JAs from around 0700z on 30m. No 80m don't ask!UK if I get anyone I will call for more, decent stations please help the little guys and be quiet or relay.All cw will be slower than most expect from DX, if looks like I am slow to confirm that is because I am listening.Local WX is very wet and high winds so not the best.No LOTW certificate applied for, use club log for oqrs but upload might not be until a few days after.

Operating location from a top in alps c2600m

Now this was a perfect SOTA location, I stayed on top overnight and used the flag pole to my right to support a 40m/20m dipole, you can see the fixture I connected to, the little ring clamp, as soon as the cable car stopped for the night out came the radio gear, it even snowed! If I had taken 2m yagi would have been amazing location as line of sight was > 80miles, the Eiger and Jungfau (Bernese Oberland group) are in the photo over my right shoulder. Temp dropped to below minus 15 but the morning operating the grey line was fun 100 or so QSO SSB qrp as HB9/M1KTA/P.